Improvement in rolls for reducing railway-rails



C. HEWITT. R011 for Reducing Railway-Rails.

Patented Oct. 7, 1879.

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E11/*ela 01' N. PEIERS. PHQo-LITHOGRAPMER WASH NGTON D C UNITED STATES,A

PATENT OFFICE.,

CHARLES HEWITT, OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN .ROLLS FOR REDUCING RAILWAY-RAILS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 220,240, dated October '7, 1879; application tiled March 31, 1879.

Cisa B.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OHARLEs HEWITT, of Trenton, State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Rolls for Reducing Railroad-Rails or other Flanged Bars of like character, of which the following is a speciiication.

My invention relates to the art of reducing old railroad-rails, fag-ends, &c., to bars or bil-` lets of a diierent-and preferably of rectangular shape, and is designed for reducing old railroad-rails or other ilanged bars having double flanges connected byanintermediate rib, web, or stem.

My invention consists, -rst, in the mode of preparing a railroad-railor other flan ged bar* for subsequent rolling intoa bar or billet, which consists, iirst, in severing the head from the rail; and, second, in bending the flange so that its bent portions shall be at an angle to each other, the head being thereby prepared to be rolled down separately in any ordinary manner, and the web and bent flange being adapted to be consolidated into each other, without crimping or lapping their external surfaces, in a manner and by means of rolls invented by me and described and claimed in an application, Oase A, filed contemporaneously with the present.

It consists, second, inthe rolls hereinafter described and claimed. y

The rolls hereinafter described are provided with grooves of such form as to first simultaneously sever the head from the extremity of the web and bend the ange to form an angle each portion with the other, and are also provided with grooves adapted to reduce the web and bent flange to a bar, said grooves being in form adapted forthe consolidation of a triangular ianged bar, as the headless rail, in fact, is, but in principle embodying the construction and operation of the passes described in my other application referred to.

In the drawings I have represented a set of three-high rolls, which conveniently carry out my invention, and` I have numbered their grooves 1, 2, 3, and 4, there being two series of the same, similar in construction, but at different angles.

Considering first the two upper rolls, A in the uppermost is a two-faced angular flange adapted to bend the base of the flange of the rail. B is a corrugation which embraces the top surface of the left-hand (upper) portion of the ilange. O is a projection bearing against the upper side of the web. D is a cuttingbead, and E a corrugation embracing the lefthand upper side of the head.

Considering the central roll, F is a dat ange adapted to bear against the tread-surface of the head. Gis a corrugation embracing the lefthand under portion of the head. His a cuttingbead inline with and registeringagainst the upper bead, D, the two constituting the device which severs the head. I is a dat projection bearing against the ri ght-hand (under) portion of the web, and J is a corrugation embracing the top surface of the left-hand portion of the ilange.

The lower pass l is similar to the upper, save that the relation and position of its parts are opposite to those of the upper pass 1 and the angles of the two passes opposite. Either pass may be employed.

The grooves 2 are in all respects similar to those described in my first application, (to which reference is to be made,) save that a ilange, K, terminates the portion in which the web lies and incloses the pass at such point. Grooves 3 and 4 are reducing-grooves of any desired conguration, that represented being a convenient form.

Such being the construction of my improved rolls, their mode of operation is as follows: The railroad or like rail to be reduced is cntered and passed through either groove 1, by which, as stated, the head is severed from the rail in such manner that the rail is longitudinally divided into two parts-the one the head B, the other the web and the flange A.

The head B of itself forms a billet or bar, and may be rolled down in the usual manner by a series of oval and square grooves. The flan ge and web A are reduced to a bar or billet by passing said ange and web successively through the grooves 2 3 4.

In the passage of the headless rail through passes 2, 3, and 4 the action of compression of first one portion and then of the other por'-l tion of the bent lan ge, while in a vertical position, into the web is entirely similar to the same action as described in my other application referred to, the only difference being that the headless web may here be considered as a bent portion of Bange, and may, in turn, be subjected to the vertical pressure of the vertical portions of the passes; in other words, the tri-Banged bar, which the headless rail becomes, is adapted to be rotated so that each of its Bauges in turn receives the vertical pressure.

The portions a and b of the supposed Bange are bent as shown. The portion a, whose axis is vertical to the axes of the rolls, is reduced in the direction of its width, as from a to c, and the metal of said Bange is displaced toward and iuto the portion of the web of the rail which is joined to said Bange, and the web is thereby thickened out, as from c to d. The portion a of the Bange being vertical to the rolls is to the greatest extent reduced, and the portion b of the Bange having been bent ont of line with the portion a removes out of line the material otherwise resisting the displacement of the material of the portion a, so that the material of the vertical portion a is, in its passage through the roll, not only reduced but displaced toward and into the web of the rail. The height of the web, as from c to e, is reduced, all substantially as set forth in my other application.

In the passage of the rail through groove 2 the operation is as follows: The vertical portion a of the supposed Bange (shown in groove 1) becomes the oblique portion, as at a2, in groove 2, the oblique portion of the Bange b of groove 1 becomes the vertical portion in groove 2, as shown at b2, at the same time the height of the web is reduced, and there iinally results a bar or billet ot' a compact form and of a section similar to groove 4, or ot other desired section.

As before observed, from the construction and arrangement of grooves which I have described, and the mode of reducing Banged bars thereby, as set forth, it is seen that by severing the head from the rail and bending the Bange so that its bent portions forni an angle with each other a Banged bar is produced having three flanges, consisting of the two bent portions of the Bange proper and the web of the rail. Either of these three Bauges may be alternately and similarly operated upon in the reducinggrooves 1 2, &e., with the eect that the Bange and web will be, by reduction and displacement, consolidated with each other without lapping or crimping the metal, and a bar, rod, or billet produced of any desired cross-section.

The bar or billet produced by the last pass or groove of the roll above described is of such form as to be capable of being rolled down directly into a wire rod by a series of oval and square grooves without reheating.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The mode of preparing a railroad-rail or other Banged bar for subsequent rolling into a bar or billet, which consists in severing the head from the rail and in bending the Bange of the rail so that its bent portions and web shall be at angles to each other, substantially as shown and described.

2. Rolls for preparing old railroad-rails for subsequent rolling into two separate bars or billets of different shape, provided with the grooves l 2 3, &c., constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore set forth, and adapted to simultaneously sever the head from the stem ot' the rail and to bend the Bange until its two portions assume au angle with each other.

1n testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name this 18th day of March, 1879.

CHAS. HEWIT'I.

In presence of- J. BoNsALL TAYLOR, Turno. U. MAPLE. 

